Baker Botts and Vinson & Elkins are the law firms of record for Sunnova Energy International’s initial public offering, which is providing a glimmer of hope in an otherwise barren environment for energy issues.
The filing, which was submitted Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, didn’t list the number of shares to be sold or their price range. But the issue is expected to give the Houston solar panel installer an enterprise value of $1 billion, according to Reuters, which reported June 11 that an offering was in the works.
Partners Joshua Davidson and Travis J. Wofford are leading the Baker Botts team advising Sunnova while Vinson & Elkins partners David P. Oelman and E. Ramey Layne are representing the underwriters, according to the filing.
The underwriters include BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., Credit Suisse, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Baird and Roth Capital Partners.
Walter “Drew” Baker has been Sunnova’s general counsel since the beginning of last year. He previously was general counsel at Atwood Oceanics Inc., which was acquired by Ensco in 2017 for $839 million, and before that was general counsel of Frontier Drilling USA Inc., which was bought by Noble Corp. in 2010 for $2.16 billion.
Baker also worked in the legal departments of Transocean, GlobalSantaFe Corp. and Global Marine Inc. The University of Texas law graduate started his legal practice at Butler & Binion.
Wofford and Davidson have done a lot of work for Sunnova over the last several years, including advising on private equity investments by Energy Capital Partners ($300 million) and billionaire George Soros’ Quantum Strategic Partners ($100 million).
The two also counseled the company on its first asset-backed securitization collateralized by a pool of distributed generation solar assets, with Davidson leading the team, and Wofford assisted the company on the acquisitions of distributed generation residential solar assets.
Others from the firm who have worked with Sunnova on various matters include partner Tim Taylor, Jon Nelsen and partner Martin Toulouse and associates Sarah Dodson, Jennifer Gasser, Mitch Athey and Ieuan List
Founded by CEO John Berger in a downtown Houston apartment in 2012, the company now claims to have more than 63,000 customers and 75 dealers in 20 states. It lost $74 million on $104 million in sales last year, according to the filing.
Sunnova’s other backers include Triangle Peak Partners, which is led by Michael Morgan, the co-founder of Kinder Morgan; and Seis Partners, which is led by former Kinder Morgan president C. Park Shaper.